To brake or accelerate when the light turns yellow? Stress reduces older adults' risk taking in a driving game.

Many rewards in life require taking risks, and the decision to take such risks often must be made under stressful circumstances—whether one is a stockbroker, a surgeon, or just a commuter in rush-hour traffic. Stress hormones affect prefrontal brain regions and dopaminergic pathways involved in decision making (Moghaddam & Jackson, 2004; Wang et al., 2005). As people age, prefrontal brain regions decline in volume and in dopamine transmission effectiveness (Raz, 2004; Volkow et al., 2000), potentially altering the impact of stress on decision making. To examine age differences in the effects of stress on risky decisions, we asked younger and older participants to play a computer-based driving game either after a stress challenge or in a control condition.